Mountains and Mole-hills
by ShivaVixen
Summary: 50 prompts showcasing the small things and the bigs things of Arda, especially through the eyes of a certain Company and Fellowship. Ensemble Fic, may be expanded in the future. Both books and movies will be referenced.


**This is both Lord of the Rings and Hobbit, movies and books. Why? Because I can, and because some of these prompts reminded me of both stories. Just look at prompt 041. Apple for proof.**

**Disclaimer: Prompts are from LiveJournal, and both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are not owned by me, sadly.**

**001. Mistakes**

They have all made mistakes lately, but the mistakes have built up to the point where they fear the breaking of their company.

**002. Heartfelt**

As Thorin embraces their burglar, the dwarves and Wizard and reassured by his heartfelt apology.

**003. Fading Away**

Legolas feels the sea calling him, feels the call of the Undying lands, but the presence of Gimli and Aragorn, the last remainders of the Fellowship, keep him from fading away.

**004. Spirit**

Boromir tries not to laugh as Pippin earnestly searches Aragorn for the apple the ranger supposedly has. The hobbits actions always lift his weary spirit.

**005. Choose**

Aragorn does not know which way to go, and it's with a heavy heart that he gives the choice to Frodo, regretting that he cannot lead the Quest.

**006. Immortal**

Elves are immortal, they do not die of age, though blades and sometimes grief can kill them. Legolas has never thought much of this, not until he sees Pippin and Merry laid to rest, old and gray, and the gray tainting the hair of Gimli and Aragorn.

**007. Open Your Eyes**

Thorin lays motionless and still, and both his nephews pray to Mahal that he will wake.

**008. Electrify**

The blast from Gandalf's staff kills several wargs, and makes the hobbits' curly hair frizz.

**009. Starlight**

Aragorn is captivated by Arwen when he first sees her, lit by nothing expect the stars and her own faint glow.

**010. Sacrifice**

Thorin once said he would sacrifice anything to reclaim and keep his home. He's horrified when he realizes that he sacrificed his honor and his own nephews.

**011. Honor (Version 1)**

Honor is important to Boromir of Gondor, and he wonders at the apparent lack of honor and pride Aragorn holds towards his own race.

Boromir is horrified when he realized he attacked someone he swore to protect, and throws himself into protecting the Ringbearer's kinsmen to try and recover his honor.

It's not until Aragorn assures him that he's kept his honor, that Boromir can see the honor and pride that Aragorn has kept hidden, and realizes that Aragorn has always had, though he tempered it with a realistic view of the Ring's effect on men.

**011. Honor (Version 2)**

Gimli is a proud warrior, and his honor has never been questioned. So when he returns, and tells them of his companions, and promptly duels and beats those that question the honor of the Lady of the Goldenwood and Legolas of Mirkwood (formerly Greenwood), many actually listen.

**012. Bite**

Orcist practically sings as it cuts through goblins and orcs. It has been a long time since it has had a chance to bite as it once did.

**013. Commit**

Gimli and Legolas originally were to follow the fellowship past the mountains. After Moria, they find themselves committed to their companions even more than they ever dreamed they would be.

**014. Fake**

The One Ring has the ability to appear as something less than it is, as well as offer false promises to those that are desperate.

**015. Tender**

Dwalin, growling and dangerous, is the last one they expect to show any sort of tenderness to anyone. And yet they don't know that on his way to Bag End, Dwalin got a little hobbit lass home after she twisted her ankle.

**016. Trouble**

Kili and Fili are always in some sort of trouble growing up. Their mother despairs of them ever reaching their majority, let alone old age.

**017. Final**

As Aragorn is laid to rest, Legolas refuses to be the last of the fellowship on this side of the sea, and talks Gimli into sailing with him, instead of waiting for death to take the final mortal of the fellowship.

**018. Waiting**

Dwalin, Gloin, Dori and Nori are waiting everyday for news of their brothers, and they tell themselves that perhaps no news is good news.

**019. Awareness**

The dwarves are so focused on the gold that their senses of the danger, and even their own needs of food, seem to be dwindling. Bilbo becomes more and more aware of the Arkenstone hidden in his belongings, and the fact that something had to be done before the dwarves he had come to care for are killed- by starvation or weapons.

**020. Turn Away (Version 1)**

Thranduil watches the dwarves flee from the dragon, and the men of Dale flee from the destroyed town, and turns his men away, rather than risk the wrath of a dragon.

**020. Turn Away (Version 2)**

He is startled by the arrival of Gandalf and a hobbit on his doorstop, and yet he does not think of turning them (and the Dwarves) away, when he realizes that the hobbit is clearly underweight.

**021. Searching**

The enemy is searching for Bilbo, and the remainders of the Company and Dain quickly realize the danger to their Hobbit.

**022. Hands of Fate**

Sometimes, when Gandalf waxed poetical at Rivendell before the quest (and sometimes during), he'd say things about them being necessary for the fate of Arda. Pippin doubts Frodo and Bilbo found that comforting.

**023. Irresistible**

Thorin hears the call of the gold and Arkenstone, and he cannot help but think of the years of poverty and enduring slurs against dwarves as he worked for men who cheated them. The call becomes irresistible.

**024. Easy**

Somehow, Frodo knows that being chased by the Nine on the way to Rivendell was the easy part of this journey, and the worst was yet to come.

**025. Breathing**

Aragorn scoops up the fallen Hobbit as they flee the Chamber, and is shocked when he realizes that not only is Frodo still breathing, then almost drops him when he speaks.

**026. Stumble**

The Dwarves stumble into the midst of the elves, and its only the fact that the elves are merrymaking that saves them from death.

**027. Fighting**

Bilbo is terrified by anything to do with fighting, and the dwarves are too used to it to think of anything else. And this difference is what makes Gandalf choose a hobbit as the fourteenth member of the Company.

**028. Closing In**

As the Wargs and Orcs are closing in, all Thorin can think of is the company behind him and the fear of failure.

**029. Involved**

Bilbo had never been involved with anything odd or unusual for 51 years. And yet there's a part of him that still wants to be involved with something more than the day-to-day life in the Shire.

**030. Destiny**

Strangely, at the end of their adventure, they all feel that they were supposed to meet.

**031. Sweet**

Sam can honestly say that the sweetest thing in his life is the little baby girl he holds in his arms.

**032. Calling**

The hobbits dash off, calling for Frodo, and Aragorn's calls do nothing to stop them or Legolas and Gimli. He feels as if there is another voice calling, luring the fellowship to their breaking point, and he does not have the ability to stop it.

**033. Nightmare**

Thorin's nightmares involve death, fire, dragons and orcs, and are all the more horrible for having been real and not dreams.

**034. Flat**

Bofur stares at the miles of green fields of the Shire that he sees, and compared to the mountains he has lived near, thinks it rather flat.

**035. Superstar**

Attempts to teach Pippin elvish fall flat when, as a mere teen, not even in his tweens, he manages to translate 'Gil-galad' as 'Superstar', much to Bilbo's amusement.

**036. Spider Web**

You can tell who has had an encounter with Ungoliant's spawn by the way they react when they accidentally walk into a (much smaller, made by an innocent spider) spider web. If the reason for their flailing and panic hadn't been so horrifying, it would be amusing.

**037. Haunted**

Years after the death of the High King Elessar, rumors come of a haunted wood, a female form cloaked in black, wandering as she sings a sorrowful lament in a language that is now forgotten.

**038. Rich**

The brothers Ri and the Ur cousins are not royalty or even related to the lords of old, but they have their families and will do anything to keep them comfortable.

**039. Everybody**

"I wish I could see everybody again." Bilbo comments to Lindir absently one day, and the bard only smiles sadly at the old hobbit, knowing that it will be a long time before the hobbit can see his dwarves all together again. (For that is what Bilbo always means when he says 'Everybody'.)

**040. Meant No Harm**

Bilbo truly meant no harm, first by hiding the Arkenstone, then by giving it to Bard for use as a bargaining tool. And yet irreparable harm was done.

**041. Apple (Version 1)**

Fili vows never to touch an apple again. This means he shuns anything that remotely has anything to do with apples, much to the confusion of the Lakemen, who are rather proud of their apple orchards.

**041. Apple (Version 2)**

Elessar always keeps an apple or two with him, much to the confusion of most of his court, until the day two elderly hobbits arrive, and one promptly demands one.

**042. Darling**

Tauriel is the darling of Mirkwoods captains, all who have hand in raising/watching her and the royal children.

**043. Name**

Dwarves have two names, one for everyday use, and one Mahal gives them that is never used by anyone except family and spouses, Gimli explains one night in Moria. (They respectfully don't ask for his secret name, though Pippin has to be elbowed by Merry.)

Elves have only one name, but it is capable of being translated into different languages, explains Legolas when the hobbits ask.

Hobbits have first names and shared last, or family, names, Frodo explains, when Pippin gets too complicated in his explanation.

Gandalf just says he allows people to call him what they will as he is different things to different people, though he admits he too has a name that only a few in Arda know.

Men are named by their fathers, and occasionally their occupation, Boromir says. Which prompts Pippin to list off the names Aragorn has been called.

Aragorn gives no explanation.

**044. By My Side (Version 1)**

Fili and Kili are always together, and they have vowed to not only be at each other's side, but also at their Uncles. They fulfill that oath.

**044. By My Side (Version 2)**

Frodo realizes quickly that he wouldn't have made it anywhere as close to Mordor without Sam, and is grateful Sam is there, by his side.

**045. Mountains**

As time goes on, Bilbo's desire to see mountains again grows, and one in particular. He only makes it to Rivendell, just shy of the shadows of the Misty Mountains.

**046. Writer's Choice- Mother Bear**

There are a handful of things that Beorn remembers of his own mother. One is her nurturing nature to all those (animals and strangers) that crossed her path. The second is her reaction to anyone, especially those under her protection, in danger.

Beorn's best memory of the second is when she ripped through 20 wargs when he was just a cub. He still has the blanket made from those pelts.

**047. Writer's Choice- Thief**

Nori is a thief, with sticky fingers and a habit of nicking things left out by careless people (men especially). But there are some things he won't steal, and people he won't target; his family is the major one (though he does move things around to tease his brothers, much to Dori's exasperation). Widows and Children are also on that list.

**048. Writer's Choice- Whispers**

Boromir isn't sure when the whispers start, but he notices that they soften in volume as soon as they cross into Lothlorien. It worries him, even more when he realizes that the Elf Lady seems aware of his turmoil, so much that he begins to consider leaving the Fellowship as soon as they leave the Goldenwood.

**049. Writer's Choice- Hope**

As Frodo writes his story (and re-reads Bilbo's Story) he notes that it is in the darkest moments in both that the characters are encouraged to go on, usually towards better ends. This gives him enough hope to continue to write, even as he relives the darkest moments of their quests.

**050. Writer's Choice- Love**

Eomer returns to Minas Tirith, and quickly notes that his sister's eyes keep returning to the Steward of Gondor. He is somewhat shocked when he realizes that she is in love with him, but cannot deny her happiness. As they stay in Gondor and recover, Eomer quietly watches all of the fellowship as well. It becomes clear that the King Elessar (who he still thinks of as Aragorn) is waiting for his own love as well, his eyes often staring north towards a place Eomer didn't know.

The hobbits, for all that two of them have sworn service, are constantly together, and Eomer hears that Sam (the hobbit that Eomer has the easiest time getting to know) has a sweetheart he wants to see, too, and that the squire his uncle took on is actually related to the ringbearer, as is the squire of Gondor. The familial love between the hobbits is heartwarming to see as they recover from their harrowing journeys.

But perhaps the oddest love he has seen is the friendship of the elf and dwarf, who go everywhere together; and even when the elves arrive with King Elessar's soon to be Queen, the elf stays by the dwarf.

And Eomer finds he understands the love that binds all of them, even him, to a Fellowship.

**A/N: ****Some explanations about the prompts.**

**011. Honor (Version 1)- I don't think Aragorn thinks all men will be tempted by the Ring, I think he's aware that taking the Ring to a place that is desperate for a chance (any chance) to defeat Sauron is asking for trouble, and so is being realistic. I don't think Boromir (who is desperate, and has trouble seeing hope in their quest) quite understood that until the end.**

**025. Breathing- refers to the book version of The Fellowship of The Ring. After Frodo gets stabbed, Aragorn picks him up to carry him out, and when Frodo speaks up and tells him to put him down, almost drops him. It's actually kind of a funny moment.**

**042. Darling- from what I can tell from interviews, Tauriel is a bit of a writer's darling, as well as being described as being someone both Thranduil and Legolas are 'fond of'. *Shrugs* We'll see how her character is in Desolation.**

**050. Love- the love Eomer 'understands' is Charitable Love, as defined in **_**The Four Loves**_** by C.S. Lewis. Eowyn & Faramir, Aragorn & Arwen, and Sam & Rosie are examples of Eros, The Hobbits are examples of Familial love, and Legolas & Gimli are examples of Companionship/Friendship type Love. Legolas staying by Gimli when the elves arrive is inspired by Orlando Bloom's comments in the Actors commentary, about Legolas, after spending the time with the fellowship, not quite feeling like he fit in with the elves anymore.**


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